In the collection of blood and, more particularly, human whole blood, it is desired that as soon as the blood is withdrawn from the donor that it be mixed with anticoagulant in order to prevent clotting. The anti-coagulant may be mixed in one of several ways. For example, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,924, it may be mixed at the distal end of the phlebotomy needle, or as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,221,741, it may be simply collected in a sterile container, containing a predetermined amount of anticoagulant, such as an aqueous solution of citric acid, sodium citrate, and dextrose, commonly known as an A.C.D. solution. In the former apparatus, the anticoagulant is ratioed into the whole blood as it is drawn, and thus the anticoagulated whole blood which is withdrawn into the whole blood receiving bag always contains an acceptable concentration of anticoagulant. In the latter situation, wherein the whole blood is received in a container which already has the desired amount of anticoagulant for a complete donor donation, the ratio of anticoagulant to blood is initially very high, thus in some cases, causing damage called "anticoagulant shock" to the blood cells. Accordingly, the present invention is principally concerned with a blood donation system in which the anticoagulant is mixed with the donated whole blood in a predetermined ratio.
A customary method of sterilizing the anticoagulant containers and the whole blood containers and related tubing utilizes either pressure steam autoclaving or treatment with a high diffusivity sterilant such as, ethylene oxide, or a combination of both. While pressure steam autoclaving is suitable for sterilizing the anticoagulant containers and tubing, it is not desirable for use with empty whole blood flexible containers, since it can cause the containers to collapse and stick together and it leads to the problem of riding the container of condensed steam following sterilization. On the other hand, while ethylene oxide is suitable for the whole blood containers, it is not acceptable for sterilizing collapsible pouches with anticoagulant solution, inasmuch as the ethylene oxide reacts with the anticoagulant. In the past, therefore, it has been found necessary to use a combination of ethylene oxide for sterilizing the empty containers and a pressure steam autoclave has been used to sterilize the container with the anticoagulant. The two systems are then spliced together via conduits to form a complete set. This creates the possibility of introducing non-sterile organisms within the system during the splicing procedure.